14 May 1796: Edward Jenner performs his first vaccination

British physician Edward Jenner performed his first vaccination against smallpox, on poor eight-year-old James Phipps, on this day in 1796.

For James Phipps, being a healthy eight-year-old boy in 1796 had its hazards. He was the son of British doctor and physician Edward Jenner's gardener, which also made him his lab rat.

Jenner had a theory he couldn't wait to test out, and that May, the opportunity arose. A milkmaid named Sarah Nelmes visited Jenner fearing she had contracted smallpox – a disease that often resulted in death. So you can imagine her relief when Jenner diagnosed her with the milder cowpox, which she had caught off the long-lashed Blossom. Having extracted some of the fluid from her infected hand, Jenner went to pay the young Phipps a visit.

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

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